Quest for Motivation

I did a route of gas station mystery shops in Tallahassee yesterday.  I booked a cheap motel room for the night and am headed back to Clearwater this morning.  I have an oil change shop to do on the way.  It pays a $20 fee and reimburses for the oil change.

One of the reasons I put together this little trip was so that I could have some windshield time.  My boss at the software company turned me on to that.  Where else can your thoughts and dreams go uninterrupted than in the confines of a car, driving 250 miles of mostly nothingness?

Lately I have been overwhelmed by annoying tasks.  They shouldn't be annoying, but I guess anything you don't want to do but have to do will be that way until you get the job done.  At home I have been trying to repair the S-10, whose Check Engine light won't cut off.  I replaced a couple of oxygen sensors.  There is still one old sensor left to replace, which I've been putting off because of how hard it is to get to it.  If that fails to rectify things, I may need to replace the catalytic converter.  Lately I've debated just taking the truck into the shop.  There is no easy way for me to diagnose the exact problem (only that there are about 5 possibilities) and I am ready for it to be done.

Then there are the rental properties.  Those have quickly been spiraling downhill.  It started with having to evict my deadbeat tenant.  Several thousands of dollars in repairs and upgrades later, that townhouse is now listed with a management company and is ready to rent.  Of my five townhouses, I have two tenants who have fallen behind on their rent.  I'm not ready to give up on them, but not having that income is definitely annoying.  The condo I just rented is another situation which I may explain later.  I want to give my new tenants the benefit of the doubt, but I feel I was mislead when I rented to them.  To top it off, one of my tenants died last week. I knew her well - for all the wrong reasons.  Her only salvation was she was my only Section 8 tenant and the rent was always paid on time without hassle.  Unfortunately, her boyfriend, who doesn't work, seems to think it is okay to continue living there.  Since I have known him for nearly 15 years and he has helped me with physical labor from time to time, I don't want to just kick him to the curb.  I feel like I should at least help him get into a shelter.  It's complicated.

I probably just need to get off my butt and get to Birmingham.  Easier said than done.